Ever After
by DeathAngelRn
Summary: Immediately after Starfire leaves the future in "How Long is Forever?" What's in store for the future titans now that their past came back with no warning? Will they pick up the pieces or fall further apart? I've taken liberties with the exact timeline. *Starfire does not exist in this universe* RavenXNightwing
1. Chapter 1

**Ever After**

 _Chapter 1_

That was it, it was over that quickly. In a flash Starfire had vanished into the warp hole never to be seen again. Again. For a few moments if felt as though time had hiccuped and stopped and the question of "what now?" hung heavy in the air. Before another word could be uttered by the four sentinent adults, baby Warp cried out.

Beastboy stared at the infant in a mix between horror and bewilderment. He wouldn't know what to do if Warp had the ability to speak out directions.

At everyone's hesitancy Cyborg spoke up. "He needs a human touch." His face was blank as he referred to his robotic limbs. If he'd thought them unsuitable before, now that they were near obsolete he felt there was no point.

The infant continued to scream when Beastboy chimed in again, "I don't know man, what if he's still evil? What if even in that tiny body he still remembers everything?"

Nightwing gave him a look but Beastboy insisted, "What? I could be true!"

Nightwing resisted the urge to roll his eyes and instead chanced a glance at Raven. The sorceress tilted her chin down, her ameythist eyes hiding deeper in the shadows of her hood. The hurt radiated off of her in waves. Nightwing felt uncomfortable. He knew his former teammates hadn't been doing well, it was painfully obvious. What he'd forgetten was how strong that mind meld bond was. This was fucking depressing.

With a sigh and a great deal of uncertainty he bent down and picked up the screaming baby and wrapped him up in Warps discarded suit and stared down at the babe's eyes. The child stopped bawling and was looking up into Nightwing's masked eyes. The hero was uneasy all over again.

"Well, I don't know about the rest of ya'll but I've gotta head back. This battery pack won't last forever." Cyborg didn't wait for a reply, he just turned and began walking off. He paused at the door, not bothering to turn and face them, "If you guys need anything, you know where to find me. Maybe I'll finally catch up to all this new tech." With that he was gone. It had been so many years that no one knew what to say, so nothing was spoken.

Raven looked at Beastboy for a moment. Between him and Cyborg she wasn't sure who'd had a harder time, she certainly was barely even processing the current moment herself. The changeling looked far older than his years but somehow that and Cyborg's state of disrepair helped to solidify these current events as reality in her mind. Time had passed, things had changed and reality been unkind. Her eyes moved to Nightwing and of the four he was the only one who seemed to be doing alright, well even.

Her solemn sadness quickly turned to anger. The sting of betrayal from her friends still cut deep. Her battles with demons nearly drove her insane and she fought for that sanity every day. It was time to go. Her eyes flashed white and her dark aura rose high above her before coming down and swallowing her away.

And then there were two. Nightwing inhaled, unsure of what to say at this point. "So... do you think you could help me with this kid? At least just until I can get him to the proper authorities to get care?"

Beastboy scratched the back of his head still feeling self-concious about his balding appearance. "I, uh... I actually can't. I've gotta work. Not all of us are heros anymore. Later."

He transformed into a bat and flew out.

Nightwing let out a sigh feeling more down than he had in a long time. How did all of this suddenly feel like it was his fault. He gave the baby a sideway glance. "Guess it's time to figure out what to do with you."

 _End Chapter 1_

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I just wanted to say that I've taken some pretty big liberties with the timeline here. Technically this takes place right where the episode, "How Long is Forever?" but events in episodes after that one are presumed to have already happened. "Haunted" being the main one. I know this is short, but it's more of an intro than anything. Enjoy!


	2. Chapter 2

**Ever After**

Chapter 2

The begnning of twilight were creeping into sky as Cyborg glanced out of the deteriorating Titans tower. What once used to be a shining beacon of hope and light in Jump city. So much had changed. He looked down at his hands, listening to the slight strain of mechanical whirring as he opened and closed his fingers. How the hell had they even all gotten here? He normally tried not thinking about the past but Starfire's sudden albeit brief appearance disrupted everything about the past twenty years. Had it really been that long? He looked around himself, the debris, the darkness. Broken dreams of the children they were when their friendships began to fall apart. It really had been that long.

Originally he'd decided to stay in Titans Tower, he hadn't been ready to let it go, even when everyone else ended up walking away. He'd been afraid. This was the only place he knew as a home after having lost everything to that lab accident. Of course all that history now seemed to be hundereds of years behind him.

The anger building and welling up in his chest reminded him of his humanity. A humanity that was completely dependant on failing robotic for survival. With a growl of disgust he punched a hole through the nearest wall. It didn't hurt, it also didn't get him feeling any better. He pulled his arm back, the mechanics of it groaning as if in protect of his rough treatment.

He thought back to one of the first fights they'd had after Starfire's disappearance.

 _Everyone was missing the alien princess, there was no deniyng that, they'd become a type of a famiy unit. Like most families though, tensions could run high and considering the circumstance they were at a boiling point. It'd been a few weeks and they were quickly losing hope that their friend would ever return._

 _Beastboy looked around at his sullen teammates. "Hey guys, you wanna have another scary movie night? It'll be fun!" He said this with the cheeriest voice he could muster, waving a DVD in his hand._

 _"No," Robin was quick and curt in cutting down the green teen's suggestion, "I've got more important work to do." He'd been looking into ways to bring back Starfire whenever he'd had a spare moment._

 _Cyborg chimed in, "Nah man, I'm just not in the mood."_

 _Beastboy's face fell, "Raven?" he asked hopefully. The empath glared at him, "No Beastboy, quit trying to cheer everyone up. It's irritating and it isn't helping anything."_

 _Raven stood and looked around at each of her remaining team mates. "We need to face the facts. Starfire isn't coming back and there is nothing we can do about it."_

 _"Geez Raven, I was just trying to-" Beastboy was cut off by Robin throwing down some documents he'd been pursuing about the theory of time travel._

 _"What the hell is your problem Raven? Everyone else is at least trying to find some answers. If you can't be a team player, maybe you shouldn't be a part of this team!" Robin snarled at the team sorceress in his frustration and rage._

 _Raven's eyes widened in shock and anger, her powers flaring out and destrying several nearby objects sending debris flying around the room. Her mouth opened to retort, closed, and when it opened again, "You have NO idea what you're talking about,_ Dick _." The words were spat out like a venom, she'd never used his nickname, it was always Robin or on the rare occasion Richard. Never Dick, and never in the form of insult._

Cyborg sighed, that was pretty much the beginning of the end, although looking baack on it, he didn't blame Raven and as it turned out, she was right. They never got their Starfire back. He set his jaw, a new resolve, something he hadn't had in years , kicked in. He had to get out of this tower and there was only one person who could help him do that. He booted up on of the computers and started up an online search. It didn't take him long, he looked at his last battery pack and out the window where the sky was turning shades of blue, purple and pink. It was now or never, staying here would mean death. Victor Stone wasn't ready to die, even if Cyborg was.

End Chapter 2

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Thanks for reading!


	3. Chapter 3

AN: Thank you to everyone who has taken the the to read this! I hope you're enjoying it so far.

To my first reviewer: Thank you so much for your kind words!

To my first flamer: Another stupid review from another stupid, delusional flamer who just had to "read" my story because they just had to keep feeding their stupid delusions that fanfiction is supposed to be canon when everyone knows its an expression of a fans immagination. So get a life you flamers and accept the reality that your opinion doesn't matter and I'll write whatever I please. =)

* * *

 **Ever After**

 _Chapter 3_

Bright sunlight streamed in through the large multipaned window of the ornate bedroom. It bathed the man lying tangled in the sheets of an over sized bed. His head turned straight into the light and he blinked several times. He sat up, cool blue eyes adjusting to it as strands of dark hair fell forward in his face.

Last night had been long and harrowing. First Starfire had shown up and to say he hadn't expected that in a million years was an understatement. Seeing her face, so young, so lost, it confused him. He still wasn't sure what he felt about it, but one thing was sure: just how foolish, young and naive they had all been. How crass he'd been with his team mates.

When he pulled out the old Titans communicator it was moreso to help ease his young friend's mind. He never expected it to work, but it had. The guilt that kept him up most of the night started floating up into his throat. He had heard about what happened to Beastboy from Cyborg, but it didn't hit him how far the changeling had fallen until he'd seen him face to face. It looked like part of his spirit had broken and died.

As for Cyborg, Nightwing tried to convince Cyborg to team up with him again after he'd returned from Gotham. Maybe he should never have left in the first place. It seemed he'd come back just a little too late, the cybernetic man just didn't have the heart to fight anymore. Instead the mad had decided to stay in that tower and rot away.

And Raven, no one knew where she had gone to. Nightwing searched, but never came up with anything and he hated not kowing what became of her, if she was even alive. It was like losing Starfire all over again. He was regretting not saying anything to her last night, not at least asking where she'd been.

He untangled himself from his sheets and headed for the bathroom. It was time to go searching for some answers. After all, all his former friends were alive and nearby, there was no way he couldn't look into it and let it all slip through his fingers again.

Upon reaching titans tower, their former home he called out into the darkness, "Cyborg? You here?". He expertly manuevered around the debris and discarded robot parts in the dim lighting.

There was no answered. "Man Cyborg..." He whispered to himself. This was insane, how could anyone live like this? Nightwing found himself wandering around the tower, letting himself reminise some of their formative teen years. He wanted to convince Cyborg to accept his help, get him updated and have him help clean up Jump City. Things had really deteriorated, crime was running rampant, it was almost like the new Gotham. It drove Nightwing mad that no matter how much he faught it, the worse it seemed to get.

He passed by their bedrooms, with a glance he noticed that his room had pretty much been untouched since he left except that a few boxes of obscue items had been piled by the door. He didn't bother walking in. Beastboys room honestly didn't look much different than it did some fifteen years ago other than now being covered in a thick layer of dust. He respected Cyborg's space, assuming the former titan probably still slept there.

Next he stopped at Satrfire's door, surprisingly this room was also untouched except it only had a very fine layer of dust covering all the surfaces suggesting that Cyborg had attempted to maintain it as close to the way it had been left aas possible all these years. He picked up a journal from the top of her dresser and glanced at it. It was all written in Starfire's native language so he placed it back down although even if it had been in English he still would've left it unread. It seemed wrong to pry.

Finally he found himself in front of Raven's door. She was really the only one they hadn't found so maybe there was a clue in here. Nightwing stepped into yet another room that had been untouched since its occupant's departure. It was strange though, it looked like she hadn't taken any of her personal belongings with her. He'd never come in here before, when she took off all those years ago. He'd always just assumed she'd packed up and left. It was eerie, there was an open book on the bed, the sheets were slightly rumpled suggesting she'd been reading and left abruptly.

Suddenly he felt like looking for clues wasn't such a great idea after all so he turned to leave when a glint of light caught his eye forcing him to turn around. He walked closer to the source, noticing a handled mirror sitting on a dresser, it glinted again as he moved closer. His gloved fingers grazed the handle briefly, feeling uncertain before his fingers wrapped around it and he brought it up to his face. "What the hell?" Without giving him time to react a black energy reached out grabbing the front of his uniform and pulled him in.

With a gasp he was gone. The mirror fell to the floor with a clacking sound, undamaged and glinted again.

 _End Chapter 3_


	4. Chapter 4

**Ever After**

 **Chapter 4**

Even as Raven materialized from her dark aura into the overly stark, bright room she began doubting that any of what had just transpired had been real.

 _No, don't push it away, you_ felt _it. It had to be real._

"Ugh... it can't be!" Raven moaned aloud, a sharp insistent pain creeping up her temples.

 _It's what woke us up, except it's_ stronger _!_

Her hood fell back as she grasped the sides of her head revealing her long, flowing hair so dark it had a violet shine. She squeezed her eyes shut trying to simultaneously shut off her subconscious.

 _Don't fight it, it's real, it has to be_. He's _here._

The pain in her head intensified as though it were being crushed in a vice. "...n-no." Raven's vision went dark, her body stopped levitating and fell to the ground in a slump.

She slowly blinked her eyes open, the pain in her head was reduced to a mild ache. Her eyes drank in the scene around, she was no longer in that stark room. The twisted paths that lead to places with no apparent end and black birds with four glowing red eyes that occasionally cawed told her where she was.

"Nevermore? But.. how, why?" Raven asked dumbfounded as she forced herself up to her feet. Never had she ended up here without doing so purposely. Hearing footsteps behind her, she turned in time to see the spitting image of herself, dressed in yellow walking towards her. "What happened?!"

Intelligence gave Raven a grim half smile, "You weren't listening to us. To me. Now come on, someone's here. That's why our head hurts."

"Is rage still contained?" It was a simple question that weighed heavily in the air as the two Ravens walked towards a crumbling path.

"Yes, barely. But we know that. The better question is, who else has been locked away?" The manifestation of Raven's intelligence sounded cryptic in that question.

"What the hell are you trying to say?" The original Raven was annoyed, her own mind was fucking with her again.

Intelligence stopped in front of a fading pink archway giving Raven a pointed look from behind her glasses, "Look for yourself. You should know this, us. It's coming undone."

Raven glared, "This is why I don't come here anymore..." her annoyance quickly faded having stepped through the arch. The realm of her happiness was faded, dulled. This was wrong, it felt too stale here. "Where is she?"

Intelligence stood by the arch and pointed at a far corner. There sat a little girl, scribbling furiously with crayons. As if sensing the hand pointing her way she looked up, "Raven!" She shouted gleefully running towards her physical being. "I knew it! I knew it was real! Our friends are back, aren't they? Look, I drew them!"

Raven looked down at Happiness holding up a crude drawing of her tired looking adult allies. Why was Happiness so small? Why was Intelligence showing her this? She rubbed her temples glancing back and fourth between the two emoticlones. "Yes? I suppose we did see them today..." Raven felt a wave of arousal pulse through her and bit her lip to keep from moaning. She turned wide eyed to Intelligence who was blushing. "What the _hell_ is going on?"

The yellow cloaked woman cracked a nervous smile, "Someone's here, we should go now, the others are stirring. Besides, Happiness sure looks like she's regaining strength."

Raven looked at the little girl in pink except she wasn't a little girl anymore, she was a young teen, dancing around with an impossible grin.

"It's real, it's real! I knew they'd come for us!" Happiness stopped twirling long enough to look at Raven, eyes shining as the candy-land background began filling with a soft light. "Mellow Yellow there is right, you should go! I'm here if ya need me!"

Raven and Intelligence left, back to the winding pathways. A huge wave of uncertainty passed through her, almost stealing her breath but then there was an edge of delight. Someone had come for her, but who would know how to get here? "You know," Raven said, "it'd be really helpful if you could just tell me who the hell is in our head." Another wave of desire washed over them and Raven stopped in her tracks.

"You know that's not how this works. I can't tell you, I can only show you t-" Intelligence was cut off by her physical being grabbing her hand and tearing down a path towards a purple arch that was beginning to glow.

"We can talk later, I just figured out where our intruder is!" Raven breathed hard as she ran, not from exertion, but from anxiety and something else.

They were getting close, halfway there, that feeling of relief began to rise only to be instantly crushed as the ground shook and a large shadow fell over Raven and Intelligence. Raven looked up, wide eyed to see her fear and self-doubt towering nearly thirty feet overhead.

The gray clad emoticlone was so strong it was suffocating to stand in her shadow, her hooded eyes looking grimly down at Raven. "No, Raven, we can't go there." Her voice was shaky, full of fear and yet booming from her sheer size.

Raven looked towards Intelligence, feeling flustered, scared, it was unnerving facing Fear like this. When had she become this massive sentry? Intelligence merely shrugged at Raven and Raven growled. A small pulse of Rage's heat could be felt in the air but it was just as quickly swallowed by the despair Fear kept oozing into the endless space. "Where's Courage when I need her?"

"Right here." The hunter green clad Raven stated plainly, a confident smirk playing at her lips. Like Intelligence, she was still a normal size and age, except she looked exhausted behind that expression. She took a step forward towards Fear, limping as she did. "Alright wimpy, you need to move."

Fear looked at the three figures below, "...but, I, I can't, we can't go in there. What if something bad happens?" her sad voice echoed loudly.

Raven glared at the giant, this was getting ridiculous, this was her own mind for goodness sake! "It'll be worse if we don't go in there! Someone decided to go for a Sunday stroll in our head and we need to get them out!"

Courage nodded and ran at Fear with a battle cry, "Arrrgh!"

"Wait, no!" Fear cried out, and in a flash of light she appeared on the ground, normal in size and cowering in her cloak. "Please..." she whispered. "I'm just scared."

Courage stopped suddenly and grinned triumphantly. "Ha! I didn't even have to strike. You might wanna hurry Rae, things are gonna get pretty nasty in here soon. I'll be here if you need to kick some sorry ass."

Raven nodded, "What about her?" pointing at Fear, "and you were limping."

Courage rolled her eyes, "I'll make sure Fear stays under control, besides, I'm feeling WAY better now. Actually, I can hardly wait for a fight!"

Raven laughed followed by a breathy sigh then slapped a hand over her mouth for a moment. "Yeah, time to go." She and Intelligence took off to their destination again.

 **End Chapter 4**

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AN: Whew, well, that was odd and interesting. I didn't mean to get to this yet but it just grabbed a hold of me and took off! Next chapter we'll pick up with BB (It's the chapter I started before this one pulled me away!) Hope you all enjoyed!


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